The long awaited final project!

Hello everyone, and thank you for following along in my journey to create my curriculum page.  I hope you enjoy the final product available at this link: http://eme5050-curriculum-page.wikispaces.com/ 

I look forward from hearing from all of you regarding it's content and how well you think it would work in a classroom.

Thanks,

Alex

Rubric, the all in one tool!

AR 7

I LOVE RUBRICS!  I hope that was clear for everyone.  :)

I suppose I have to substantiate the reason that I love rubrics, and that is something I am happy to do.

The first reason I love rubrics is that they give you an objective way to grade and assess student’s work.  This does not just include presentation projects, but also ‘regular’ graded projects (essays, book reports, etc.).  The rubric gives you as a teacher a way to go through each project and check off each of the important pieces of the presentation and make sure that they meet the specified standard.

The second reason I love a good rubric is that it takes the element of ‘surprise’ out of grading for everyone involved.  The teacher knows what is expected, the student knows what is expected and the students’ parents can see ahead of time what it is their student needs to do to achieve a good grade on their class work.  There is none of that “will my teacher like this” or “I wonder what my teacher meant when she/he said to do …” or my favorite “Why did my child get this grade?”  It is all there in black and white ahead of time!

Now, the key to making sure these two steps are really that effective is to go over the rubric when you first assign the project with your students.  Then show the students an example of a good presentation and a bad presentation (if possible from previous students).  This way everyone in the class can see what each element is meant to look like.  At that point the teacher can address any questions the students might have regarding the project or the clarity of the rubric.

Rubrics are a two-in-one solution.  They are instructions and a grading scale all in one.  To this end my presentation example has been added to my Curriculum page as well as my rubric (see below to view).

I’ll be honest, I used a teacher tool to create mine (I mentioned it in a different blog).  It is by far my favorite rubric site (I’ve used a few and this one I like the best).  The site is called RubiStar, and it gives you the opportunity to choose a grade level, a subject matter, and even different ‘typical’ assignments within each subject matter.  Surprisingly to me a digital story was one of the available options.

Once you pick all from all the categories you end up with a blank rubric.  On the left there are a number of cells and you can pick from the suggested list of categories (that already have pre-written descriptions) or you can choose to name something on your own.  The other really neat tool is that even if you pick a pre-designed category you can still change what each description says to match your curriculum needs.

You can also choose the weight point each category will get (on the top of each column).  I feel this tool is so customizable that it’s virtually adjustable to any project.  And the fact that there are different pre designed categories give you (as an educator) a hint on what types of questions/categories you want your students to achieve in this project.  I know for me it gave me two ideas that I had wanted to represent but I wasn’t sure how to grade within the project (flow and purpose).

Saving the final rubric into a word document is not too hard (you first save it as an excel sheet and then transfer it over to word document).  After that it was just a matter of uploading it to my wiki page as a file for students to view and download for their final project!

So please, read, review, and comment.  Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.  Keep in mind; this is a project for the first week of a Spanish class in high school.  The editting is a bit funky, for that I apollogize. 

Digital Storytelling: ¿Quién soy yo?
Teacher Name: Mrs. Stewart
Student Name:     ________________________________________
CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Point of View - Purpose	Establishes a purpose early on and maintains a clear focus throughout.	Establishes a purpose early on and maintains focus for most of the presentation.	There are a few lapses in focus, but the purpose is fairly clear.	It is difficult to figure out the purpose of the presentation.
Images	Images create a distinct atmosphere or tone that matches different parts of the story. The images may communicate symbolism and/or metaphors.	Images create an atmosphere or tone that matches some parts of the story. The images may communicate symbolism and/or metaphors.	An attempt was made to use images to create an atmosphere/tone but it needed more work. Image choice is logical.	Little or no attempt to use images to create an appropriate atmosphere/tone.
Duration of Presentation	Length of presentation was 3 minutes.	Length of presentation was 2-3 minutes.	Length of presentation was 2 minutes.	Presentation was less than 2 minutes long OR more than 5 minutes.
Grammar	Grammar and usage were correct (for Spanish) and contributed to clarity, style and character development.	Grammar and usage were typically correct (for Spanish) and errors did not detract from the story.	Grammar and usage were typically correct for Spanish but errors detracted from story.	Repeated errors in grammar and usage distracted greatly from the story.
Spanish Words	There were at least 3 Spanish words per slide/image that helps in the description and story flow.	There are 2 Spanish words per slide/image that help in the description and flow of the digital story.	There is 1 Spanish word per slide/image that helps in the description and flow of the digital story.	There are no Spanish words in the presentation. OR the words used are not related to the slide/image they are associated with.
Economy	The story is told with exactly the right amount of detail throughout. It does not seem too short nor does it seem too long.	The story composition is typically good, though it seems to drag somewhat OR need slightly more detail in one or two sections.	The story seems to need more editing. It is noticeably too long or too short in more than one section.	The story needs extensive editing. It is too long or too short to be interesting or clear.
Use of approved technology	The presentation was presented to the class using a previously approved medium.			The presentation was presented to the class using a non-approved medium.

Mi ejemplo (my example)

AR 6

My example

I found this week’s activity to be very similar to the one we did a few weeks ago, where we used a Prezi to make a presentation.  And to be honest, that was what I thought I would use for this example… then I ran into a problem.  The Prezi still would not play sound, and it did not like half the pictures I wanted to use for some reason (formatting issues).  Plus, I was still having a very hard time having it only zoom on what I wanted to.  It turns out that when you have pictures and text at the same time it tends to want to focus on only part of the picture, no matter how small I made the picture or grouped the information.

I got frustrated and started to do the digital storytelling example on PowerPoint, thinking that a different (easier) perspective on the project might help me organize my ideas a bit better.  I wanted the darn thing to be of a reasonable length, and I could have done that easily, but I realized it’s an example, so I limited it to a small number of slides.   They have lots of visual references so that my English speaking students wouldn’t be completely lost with all the Spanish text.  This would also show the students a good way of making the presentation eye catching; so that I didn’t have all pictures or all text when the time came to evaluate the project.

After I was done with the PowerPoint, I still wanted to use a digital share site, so I took the advice that Kelvin had given us a few weeks ago and I played around with a few other sites that were given to us as an option to originally create our digital storytelling presentation.  I ended up using Empress.  Empress is a free program to use like Prezi, and it has a lot of cool features (including easy to add sound), and it uploads existing PowerPoint presentations without much hassle (my last slide wouldn’t upload due to the size of the JPG – so the class doesn’t get to see my son).  But most importantly, Empress makes it easy to share my presentation with my blog and with my wiki!

And so without further delay, here is my Empress example that is also available on my Wiki page.

PS: In case you are interested, the son is "Dejame Entrar" (Let me in) by Carlos Vives.  He's a Colombian artist that was born and raised near where I was... plus, I just love that song! 

AR 5: Introduciendo a ____. (Introducing you)!

AR 5

Creating a Curriculum Page

I will admit this freely, I have no earthly clue what I was doing when I finished reading the weekly assignment module.  I actually waited until now to see examples of others first before I dove into creating my own page.  I’m still not 100% sure that I’ve got it all done (but I figure I can tweak it and not get into too much trouble between now and the end of the semester).  And yet, I am now the proud owner of a Wiki Curriculum page… YAY for me!

It’s in Spanglish if you must know, but I’ve translated the important parts to English for my future students (the EME class is pretending to be them… correct?).  I’ve got graphics, text, and web links!  I’m so proud of myself; it’s hard to believe it only took me about 3 hours in the dead of the night to get it done. 

But I digress.  This activity reflection is regarding how my experience went… so here we go.  (Just so everyone is clear, I’m using Wikispaces.com)

It was awful!  I apparently did NOT follow directions well, and did half the page wrong the first time.  Turns out I was not creating new pages, but renaming my pages to different titles.  So if you clicked on HOME you got my page on lesson plans, or if you clicked introduction you got my reference page.  It was terrible.  I then tried to use the help feature to fix it.  It was useless!  I couldn’t make heads or tails of what I had done, so fixing it was out of the question.  After about 30 min. of this frustrating experience I decided it wasn’t worth it, and chucked my whole page worth of work and started a new one. 

This was MUCH better.  I already knew what I wanted to write, and how I wanted to format each page.  And I had already uploaded my pictures/clip art to the wiki platform (which so nicely keeps this handy for you).  To be honest the hardest part of the uploading process was getting my Wordle (wordle.com) page to be saved as a .JIF (you have to do a screen shot, and fix it with paint, save it, finally upload it).  The rest of the images I found using Iclip and Google’s free clip art search.  [I would like it noted I’m integrating tons of stuff here.] 

I did go ahead and fill in some of the pages that I created, since I had either a) already done the work for it, or b) found it really easy to fill in.  Therefore you can clearly see completed the following pages: home, introduction, digital resources, and my rubric (I have a rubric tool, it’s amazing and it’s at: rubistar.4teachers.org - use it well).  This still leaves the lesson plan/standards page, and my example to do.  But this gives me time to spell check (accents won’t show on the wiki and I’m sure I’ve made mistakes), and tweak portions of the Curriculum page as I see fit. 

So after another hour or so of this, I feel like I’ve accomplished what I needed to do for this week’s work.  So, without further a due, I give you my Curriculum Page … please review!!

A not so boring first week of school

Reading Reaction #5

The routine of the first week of school is pretty much drab.  You go to your classes; you get assigned a book or books, maybe a seat too.  You get a packet of rules and a list of stuff you have to buy for next week.  You get your affairs in order, get a locker, maybe change up your schedule, and you are at some point forced to go around the class and say something about yourself.

In my dream…

I finally have my own classroom in High School, and I eagerly expect the arrival of my Spanish 1 kids (9-12 grades).  We go through the basic attendance routine and then we come to the boring part of the day, or so they think!  For instead of standing in front of the class and letting them listen to me talk about myself and what I expect from them I have a surprise.  I’ve been working all summer on a cute 3-5 min. Prezi that encompasses my background and what I expect of my students this year.  This presentation along with my PowerPoint of classroom rules should definitely be different than what they are use to. 

After I do my little presentation I turn the lights back on, and I ask the class “How many noticed that was all in Spanish?” (Clearly imagining results here) The class mostly answers that they didn’t notice, because they thought the video was full of interesting tid bits. 

And this is where the fun really begins.  While I do ask my students to tell me their name and grade level, I also want to dive in right away in showing them that this Spanish class is going to be fun and different.   Therefore I break the cardinal rule of the first day of school, and have an assignment for them.  I want them to create a little digital story of who they are, and have it ready for class on Monday.  It needs to have text in Spanish, and I have a rubric for them to follow.  The rest of the week we’ll do fun stuff in class to get them to have ideas for their project, and they can bring in questions by Thursday to me so that they can be on track for turning in their assignment after the weekend.  They can even share what they’ve done so far with friends on Friday so that they can peer edit the information.

A very detailed rubric would be essential to my students in guiding the creation of their digital storytelling project.  Giving students and example and a brief synopsis leaves a Great Wall’s worth of ideas and directions that students could still take.  Without a detailed rubric I’d be afraid of my students lacking content, using inappropriate content, lacking focus, using too much of one media and not enough of the others, or even missing the mark all together.  I feel that it’s important for students know what is fully expected of them, and a rubric is a great way to do this.  Plus, if I’m upfront with what I want to see and why this can be useful outside of the Spanish classroom, it is my hope they would see the usefulness in the project and maybe use it in their other courses. 

I would recommend to my students to use Prezi, PowerPoint, or any other digital media to produce their storytelling projects.  I would require students to pick a digital software tool by Wednesday so that I could review any sites I was unfamiliar with for their application in the class.  I would require text in the target language (Spanish), as well as pictures and/or video, lastly I would give my students the opportunity for sound –although it would not be required.  This presentation would have to be available either through removable media or the internet for the class to view, and be less than 5 minutes long. 

For the storytelling project to be successful, I feel that there would be two kinds of resources my students would need to complete their projects.  One resource would be language oriented and the other would be technology oriented.

For the language I would have my students use any of the following sites to translate or research the words/phrases they would want to use for their project presentation.  (After all this is the first week of school, I don’t expect them to have any significant Spanish vocabulary!)  These sites contain a wealth of information and in one case how to pronounce the words/sentences too!

Spanish Dictionary (http://www.spanishdict.com) – This site has single word and whole phrase translation, video tutorials on grammar and syntax, pronunciation aids, as well as fun ‘games’ to help you retain the vocabulary further.

I would also highly recommend the web site for whichever book the class was using, as they normally have resources on vocabulary, conjugation, verb usage, etc.

The class would also have available to them –through me- the use of my vocabulary dictionary.  This book (Mastering Spanish Vocabulary: A thematic approach by Navarro and Navarro-Ramil) breaks Spanish vocabulary into thematic units and places all the necessary words together so as to aid complete a project with relative ease.  If necessary I could make copies of the particular theme unit available to all my students. 

For technical help, my students would first have to choose which software application they would be using to present their digital storytelling projects to the class.  The following are a few sites that have the available resources for a good story telling project that are also free to use for everyone.

Prezi.com –This site has tutorials, educational resources, and a slew of other tools to help students create a fun digital storytelling project.

How to use PowerPoint (http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/powerpoint101/PowerPoint_101_How_to_Use_PowerPoint.htm)  - This site helps students work through different aspects of PowerPoint with easy step by step directions and illustrations depending on their PowerPoint version. 

Empress (http://www.empressr.com) - This site looks like a ton of fun, and it has the option to embed your presentation in a multitude of social media and blog programs (perfect for your interactive students)! 

… back to reality.

This assignment is on the one hand tons of fun for me, and on the other hand very difficult for me.  I have a million ideas on what to do the first week of school.  I want to engage my students; I want them to understand that in my classroom they will be active participants in their education and that I am there to facilitate the expansion of their horizons through a new language.  Very idealistic, I know… but it is who I am as a person.  In my previous career I was one of the most open and willing to help supervisors the company had, and for that reason I feel my staff flourished (the nice awards we racked up helped to back up my theory).  I want my students to feel that they can flourish in my classroom too! 

An effective way to accomplish this goal for me is to use digital media to the fullest extent in my class.  I want to provide my students with authentic learning opportunities, and connect them to a world of learning outside the classroom.  I cannot imagine we would ever have the budge to take a trip to a Spanish speaking country to immerse them in the culture and have them see how it’s not so different.  But through digital media I can do that in the classroom.  Students can find sites related to their interest in Spanish, they can take virtual tours with me of towns, cities, museums, etc. all in Spanish.  They can explore the world the 2-D book introduces them to.  And they can make friends online with kids their own age who live in Spanish speaking countries. 

The chapter we read in our book this week reminds us of how important a resource technology can be in a classroom.  We as educators can use a myriad of resources to help bring our point across to our students in a multitude of ways so as to aid them connect the dots easier.  Our students are immersed in technology from the moment they wake up, and I feel it would make it an easier transition for the day if their school day had the same interwoven goal to learning.  The resources are out there, we just have to be brave enough to go find them!

This is a different kind of story...

AR 4

This is different than a slide show

This week’s assignment was different for me.  I’ve done Power Point presentations in the past.  I’m not fantastic at it, but I’ve done enough that I figured I’d try one of the new options.  The first option (Slideshare) seemed pretty neat.  The idea that you can tweak away on your computer and then take the ‘clicking’ away from the slide show and make it into something cool was interesting to me.  But I wasn’t sure how I could make it work… or if I wanted to do the Power Point first.  Then there were the few problems with uploading that my classmates seemed to have with it.  Honestly, that turned me off.

So I moved onto Prezi.  I’ve seen it in action before (in this class and in others).  So, I looked on the site, and I chose the free educator’s version.  You get an upgrade on the MB storage and a couple of extra features.  And since all you need is an .edu email, why not?  Lucky for me/us the knights email we have to have anyways counts.  Whala! Free Prezi account.

The creation process was fun.  For me it flowed a lot like a mind web I often use when planning out projects.  It was also a bit chaotic due to being able to move all the pieces so much.  I wanted to make sure that I sort of organized the information so that when the screened flew around the audience didn’t get lost.  Also, there was the problem that the images and the text weren’t automatically linked… but that can be worked around.

I knew what I wanted to do.  I wanted to show a few little phrases that told you (the audience) why digital story telling is engaging and fun, and really the way to go to keep students interest.  Then I wanted to have a cute little example of how Prezi can put on a rudimentary presentation.  I picked something easy; reviewing the colors of the rainbow in Spanish.  The mini-lesson also includes the names of the shapes the colors are in as a review (brining in that previous knowledge to keep it active).

The Prezi has lots of visuals for my visual learners.  And then I ran into a problem.  I want sound.  Turns out the instructions for sound gave me a head ache!  Seems there is some sort of issue with it and the formatting you need is a bit tricky.  I’m sure this is just a case of me needing more experience with Prezi.  To me it seems that there are a few ‘tricks’ with this program that are for a more advance user.  No worries, I’ll become said advance user before week 11.  I promise sound by then!

I’m actually going to use this program to do a project in another class this semester.  It’s an option available that I had originally dismissed, and due to this project I’m intrigued enough to want to use it.  The description was apt; this does ‘blow your mind.’  And I know it’s a different presentation tool for the students who are so use to seeing their teachers show them Power Point slides.  That right there is enough for me to give this tool a few more tries.  I have to figure a few more things out, but so far, I’m happy with how this works.

Therefore, I ask you to watch my presentation…  (Bring on the comments!  I want to know if anyone remembers their Spanish colors)

Imaginary classrooms in Z school

Reading Reaction Z - Week 7

My computer background:

After reading chapter 4 in our book, I found it to be helpful in reminding me of some options for the peripheral hardware and the upgrades in USB technology/capacity; but overall I’m pretty familiar with the inner workings of a computer.  I’ve built or rebuilt several desktops over the years; either due to a need to upgrade or to save some money.  I also seem to be beyond the basic level of help offered by the ‘help line’ of the computer assistance… the last few times I’ve called they’ve had to transfer me to a specialist in California (so there is the bonus of no strong accents to decipher).  Even then it was a waste of time and I had to just crash and re-install the OS on the desktop (luckily we have two external backup drives at home so nothing was lost).  I have been known to upgrade the RAM, add a TV card, upgrade the modem (forever ago when you used one), and a fan; but I’ve never messed with the processor.

 I also set up the wireless network in our home to include the two laptops, the desk top, and the Wii having internet access and networked all 3 computers so that I can access data from any of the PCs on the one I’m currently on.  This is very convenient when I’m uploading pictures and they are still on the desktop or they are on one of the backup drives.  My husband also finds this a very convenient option when he wants to upgrade the fuel ratios on his car (the second laptop) and wants to save the run results on the desktop for further analysis.  I am by no means an expert on hardware and software, but I’ve mastered the basics and when I do run into a wall it’s usually something major that requires a lot of help – or a new computer! 

The cool imaginary classroom:

This is what my classroom computer has.  It’s a Dell laptop, it was purchased not too long ago to help facilitate my moving from room to room inside the school.  As a Spanish teacher, and the newest member of the staff I don’t have my own classroom yet.  But the school was great at providing me with a good mobile ‘desk’.    

Operating System:  Windows Vista, Home Premium. Processing Speed: Pentium-R, Dual CPU, T4200 @2.00 GHz.  Memory (RAM): 2 GB. Screen Resolution: 1366 x 768, 32 bits of color. Video Card: Generic PnP Monitor on Mobile Intel ® 4 Series Express Chipset Family. Removable Media Options:  1 network cable port, 1 monitor/peripheral port, 3 USB ports, 1 DVD/DVRW, 1 SD card reader slot, microphone and head phone jacks. 

As far as the software acquisition for my classroom, my principal has given me the funds and I have decided to purchase: Kids Spanish, published by Promotions.  The program is available at a reasonable price with all the options from www.k12software.com.  This program is a great way to introduce concepts to my students and has many interactive tools to keep my students engaged in their learning.  The program has the following requirements according to the web site:

Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista; 486 or better processor; 16 MB RAM; 10 MB free hard disk space; 640x480 monitor, 256 colors; 16-bit sound card & speakers; Microphone (not included); CD-ROM drive. 

My computer has the right Operating System and processor.  I have plenty of RAM and hard disk space, I can adjust the monitor settings and the sound card is up to speed.  I have a microphone from my mobile class cart, and the CD-ROM is ready to roll.  Installation was relatively easy.  

My first real concern was my microphone not being up to date, but the USB worked just fine on the backwards compatible USB 2.0 on my computer (as mentioned in Ch. 4 of our book).  This allowed my students to be able to pronounce and practice along with the software (one of its best features) and pass the microphone around so that everyone could have an equal opportunity to participate. 

I was also able to use a USB cable to hook-up my computer to the classroom projector.  That way I was able to project the image from my screen onto the whiteboard in the classroom.  My only real problem was adjusting the screen resolution, my highest available setting (where it normally resides) made the screen too small, and I had to adjust it so as to make it viewable to the students from their seats easily.  This took a bit of time and tweaking, but I was finally able to get it to fit the whiteboard and be viewable for everyone. 

I am very excited about the possibilities this program gives to my students for introduction of new material, as well as review of material before their unit tests.  Plus, the voice practice options available with the microphone are a great way to do practical tests on their pronunciation and sentence construction in a low anxiety environment.